FlexNet Manager Suite can falsely recognize Oracle applications due to remaining Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) evidence reported to the FlexNet inventory agent. This article describes how FlexNet inventory agent gathers Oracle evidence and how you can locate OUI evidence to review potentially outdated files.

How the FlexNet inventory agent gathers Oracle evidence

Locating OUI evidence

OUI tracks details of installed Oracle software components using files named oraInst.loc, inventory.xml, and comps.xml.

The /etc/oraInst.loc file contains an inventory_loc entry.  

Under the inventory_loc path will be a ContentsXML/inventory.xml file (in this example, "/u/oracle/app/oraInventory/ContentsXML/inventory.xml").

Example

inventory_loc=/u/oracle/app/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall

The inventory.xml file provides HOME elements that contain a LOC attribute.

Each home directory includes an inventory/ContentsXML/comps.xml file (in this example, "/u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/inventory/ContentsXML/comps.xml").

Example

<HOME_LIST>
  <HOME NAME="OraDb11g_home1" LOC="/u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1" TYPE="O" IDX="1"/>
</HOME_LIST>

The comps.xml file contains the installer evidence extracted by the inventory agent.

For each COMP element, the following properties are used:

• EXT_NAME element - installer evidence "Name"
• VER attribute - installer evidence "Version"
• INST_LOC attribute - installer evidence "InstallLocation"
• INSTALL_TIME attribute - installer evidence "InstallDate"
• A hard-coded "Oracle Corporation" - installer evidence "Publisher"

Example

<COMP NAME="oracle.server" VER="11.2.0.1.0" BUILD_NUMBER="0" REP_VER="0.0.0.0.0" RELEASE="Production" INV_LOC="Components/oracle.server/11.2.0.1.0/1/" LANGS="en" XML_INV_LOC="Components21/oracle.server/11.2.0.1.0/" ACT_INST_VER="11.2.0.1.0" DEINST_VER="11.2.0.0.0" INSTALL_TIME="2011.Jun.02 20:39:31 EST" INST_LOC="/u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/oracle.server">
  <EXT_NAME>Oracle Database 11g</EXT_NAME>
  <DESC>Installs an optional preconfigured starter database, product options, management tools, networking services, utilities, and basic client software for an Oracle Database server. This option also supports Automatic Storage Management database configuration.</DESC>
  <DESCID>COMPONENT_DESC</DESCID>
  <STG_INFO OSP_VER="10.2.0.0.0"/>
</COMP>

Package details in an inventory .ndi file generated from the above example would look like the below example.

Example

<Package Name="Oracle Database 11g" Evidence="OUI" Version="11.2.0.1.0" InstallDate="20110602T203931">
  <Property Name="InstallLocation" Value="/u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/oracle.server"/>
  <Property Name="Publisher" Value="Oracle Corporation"/>
</Package>

Installation directories that no longer exist

Sometimes comps.xml files are not updated by OUI when Oracle applications are uninstalled. When this occurs, it results in the FlexNet inventory agent recognizing installations of Oracle applications based on the evidence files, even if other files associated with the installation are no longer on the computer.

• The FlexNet inventory agent versions 2021 R1 (17.0) and later contain an improvement that will only return evidence from comps.xml files where the directory specified in the INST_LOC attribute exists.
  
  

  Note: Oracle Universal Installer often (but not always) adds another directory name that does not exist to the end of the path specified by the INST_LOC attribute in comps.xml files. For this reason, the last name in the INST_LOC path is ignored when perform the directory existence check.

  For example: a comps.xml file will commonly include details like the following for an installation of the oracle.server package in the path /u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1:

  <COMP NAME="oracle.server" [...] INST_LOC="/u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/oracle.server">

  The "oracle.server" name at the end of the path is ignored, so the package is considered installed and evidence returned in gathered inventory as long as the /u/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 directory exists on the filesystem.

• Earlier agent versions return all evidence as specified in the comps.xml file, regardless of whether referenced installation directories actually exist.

ARL rules for recognizing OUI evidence

OUI evidence often identifies that Oracle applications are installed but won’t identify the edition. Precedence rules are configured in the FlexNet inventory agent’s application recognition library (ARL) to avoid recognizing installations of Oracle applications without specified editions. ARL will use more specific evidence that enables recognition of the edition when available (for example, based on Oracle Database inventory gathered rather than OUI evidence).

Recognition rules for Oracle Database options are generally not configured to match OUI evidence.

OUI evidence is often an unreliable indicator of what is currently installed on computers. As installations change, OUI files on computers are often not updated accordingly. Avoiding using OUI evidence for recognition helps to minimize false positives that arise from using OUI evidence to recognize installations.

Related: See the following post for more information about how OUI evidence for Oracle Database options is handled by FlexNet Manager Suite: Content Change Notification: Changes in the use of Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) evidences for recognition.

Review file evidence using the FlexNet inventory agent tracker.log

If the FlexNet inventory agent is configured to scan the file system, it will discover the oraInst.loc, inventory.xml, and comps.xml files as part of that scan. The inventory agent's tracker.log will give details on which packages are found on the device.

tracker.log file location:

• Windows: %temp%\ManageSoft\tracker.log
• non-Windows: /var/opt/managesoft/log/tracker.log

You will see messages like the following appearing in the tracker.log:

[2018/04/15 01:24:20 AM (G, 0)] {2940} The file 'C:\oracle\inventory\ContentsXML\comps.xml' has been detected as a possible package registry

Review each .xml file to ensure it accurately reflects which applications are currently installed on the device.

Additional diagnostics

You can obtain additional diagnostic tracing information about the scanning performed by the inventory agent by enabling the +Inventory/Packaging/OracleUniversalInstaller agent trace flag in the etcp.trace file. Instructions on how to do this are located here: How to enable FlexNet Manager Suite diagnostic tracing.

Related resources

• Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide from Oracle Enterprise Manager Documentation, 11g Release 1 (11.1)
• Significance of oraInst.loc When Installing Oracle Products and Applying Patches
• FAQs on Central Inventory and Oracle Home Inventory (Local Inventory) in Oracle RDBMS